Explore: Farming

Local Farms and Resilience: The No-Till Experiment

Eric Toensmeier, of Project Drawdown, writes, “We can’t mitigate climate change without agriculture, so we have to find ways for agriculture to be part of the solution, instead of part of the problem.” How can local farms play a role in the solution? Two area farms—Gaining Ground in Concord and The Good Food Farm in Ashby—have embarked on […]

Taking a Closer Look: Crop Pest and Disease Surveillance with Manan Arora

There was an extra set of eyes looking over the crops at Gaining Ground this season. Moving meticulously down the pathways and through the beds, Manan Arora crouched with his clipboard in hand, peeking under eggplants, turning over cabbage leaves, and inspecting cucumber plants. This summer, Manan worked as a crop disease and pest scout […]

Deepening Our Partnership with the Soil

The past two years have been a picture-perfect lesson in why our relationship with the land we cultivate is one of ongoing commitment and learning. A drought in 2020, followed by extraordinary heat and rain in 2021, took their toll on farms across New England—and Gaining Ground was no exception. We watched as our farm […]

Energized by Mulch!

In the life of a farmer, as much as deep winter is for reflection and quiet, it is also a time of intricate planning, preparations, and dreaming. Those long days of summer light are so far off, yet in just a short couple of months a rebirth will be upon us.   This season I am […]